On April 28, Tiffany & Co. will reopen its legendary New York City flagship on 57th Street following a glitzy makeover that has added digital screens, paintings, and homages to the brand’s celebrated history.
This is the first time the store, which the company has dubbed “the Landmark,” has had a “holistic renovation” since it opened in 1940, a Tiffany statement said. Tiffany announced it would renovate the iconic building—which has traditionally accounted for around 10 percent of its sales—in 2018, prior to LVMH’s purchase of Tiffany.
Since 2020, Tiffany has operated out of a temporary location in the building next door, in what JCK’s Emili Vesilind dubbed “the mack daddy of all luxury pop-up shops.”
The redo was originally supposed to be finished by late 2021. But COVID-19 delayed the reopening, as did LVMH’s purchase of Tiffany in early 2021. After winning control of the retailer, LVMH brought in famed architect Peter Marino to rethink the plan.
“It’s not a question of what I wanted to change the most,” Marino told WWD. “I got to change everything.
“I wanted to remove the intimidating factor and make the experience of buying jewelry more cheerful and fun,” he added. “Most jewelry stores are still so somber.”
Some veterans have criticized other new Tiffany store designs, saying they veered from the brand’s traditional “warm, open” feel.
But CEO Anthony Ledru told WWD he aimed for “an inclusive approach.”
“We don’t want to jump on the client when they need to feel at ease,” he said. “That’s very Tiffany and very American.”
LVMH has declined to comment on the cost of the renovation, but Fortune estimated the original redo would cost between $125 million and $250 million. WWD said the cost is “thought to be well into the nine-figure range.”
Tiffany said the Landmark will be “one of the largest stores in Manhattan.”
The building is keeping—but refurbishing—its famed exterior, which includes a revolving door-entrance topped by an Atlas statue under a clock.
The ground floor features video walls “that project sweeping views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline when turned on” but act as mirrors when turned off.
A spiral staircase that spans the third through eighth floors was inspired by the “sensual and organic designs” of Tiffany artist Elsa Peretti.
According to WWD, the store will feature sections devoted to Peretti’s designs as well as those of another Tiffany designer, Paloma Picasso. The fifth floor will offer “The Audrey Experience,” saluting Audrey Hepburn’s starring role in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The eighth and ninth floors will be “dedicated museum and exhibition spaces,” the company said.
Scattered throughout the store are at least 40 pieces of art, among them works by Julian Schnabel, Rashid Johnson, Anna Weyant, and Daniel Arsham. One controversial inclusion is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Equals Pi, which is painted largely in Tiffany’s signature robin-egg blue, though there’s some debate if the artist meant that as a tribute.
“When people enter from Fifth Avenue, they will see the Basquiat,” Tiffany executive vice president Alexandre Arnault told The New York Times. “It’s an important part of the Tiffany brand now.”
The store is retaining the Blue Box Café—the company’s first-ever restaurant, which opened in 2017 after decades of customers asking if they could really have breakfast at Tiffany. But the new version—headed, as before, by Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud—will include a private dining area and bar with art installations.
(Photos courtesy of Tiffany & Co.)
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